What do Christians look like?

James Byrd

Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

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Good morning, CHURCH!

Welcome to FFM where we love God and we love people.

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Let’s pray.

Let’s go to the book of 2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

This verse is part of the Apostle Paul's final exhortation to the Corinthians in his second letter to them. The church in Corinth was facing various issues, including moral and doctrinal challenges, and some people were questioning Paul's apostolic authority. In response, Paul addresses the church with a call to self-examination.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination 2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

2 Corinthians 13 is a very interesting section of scripture.

The Corinthian church had a list of things going on that weren’t very Christ like. (Spiritual pride, suing one another, abusing the communal meal and of course sexual misbehavior.)

Paul was going to be coming back to Corinth and threatened to bring some spiritual discipline to the church, but it seems as if they now wanted to challenge if Christ was even speaking through him.

Paul was like, how you gone question me.

You need to examine yourselves to see if Christ is even in you.

This examination isn't superficial but a deep and honest look at whether their lives reflect true faith, including their beliefs, actions, and the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.

Listen, so many people think they are Christians because they go to church or pray when they get in trouble.

Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

Saying a prayer, going down an aisle or repeating a prayer after someone doesn’t make you a Christian.

Telling yourself that you are a Christian or trying to be a decent person doesn’t make you a Christian.

You can only be a Christian if Christ is in you, which can be tested and proven according to the scriptures and by the fruit that you produce.

And if you truly follow him, you will produce fruit that shows it.

Today’s message title is:

What do Christians look like?

Let’s start with a bang!

How can you be a Christian if you don’t want others to become Christians too?

I see you thinking.

“I do want others to become Christians.”

Well then why aren’t you telling them about what Jesus did for them and their need for redemption.

Why aren’t you doing the great commission?

The Bible says there are a lot of people that need salvation.

The harvest is plentiful.

Point #1

Do You tell others about Jesus?

Question

When you talk to other people, what do you talk about?

(The Olympics, The Stock Market, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, The latest news, Your recent vacation or job promotion etc.)

If Jesus walked the earth today, he would probably talk about some of those things too.

But he always found a way to tell others the answer to their greatest needs or to calm there greatest fears.

Jesus always found a way to get to the matters of the heart.

Jesus was the master of the transition.

Matthew 19:16-23 ESV

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, 19 honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

22 When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.

It seems like the young man didn’t understand that money was his idol.

And he was trying to be good enough to earn his way to heaven.

He asked, “What good deed must I do and what do I still lack?”

The law was instituted partly to show us that we were insufficient to be perfect.

Jesus then transitioned to the matters of the heart.

Jesus told him to go sell his possessions. (Some of y’all’s heart dropped just reading that.)

(Money and possessions can be an idol.)

If you were to have a ten-minute conversation with an unbeliever, would you be looking for ways to get to the matters of the heart?

Would you hop on the opportunity to interject Jesus into the conversation?

When you bypass the cookie cutter answers that people give you to daily standard greetings, you can get to the heart.

Whenever you ask, “Hey, how’s everything going?”

The response is something like, “It’s all good.”

(Everyone greets them like that, but most don’t really want to know.)

Your follow up should be, “No, I would really like to know, how everything is going with you?”

If there is something going on in their life that they really want help with, this will open the door to it.

If we really are Christians, our major concern about people should be their relationship with God.

Or is it that you’re more worried about people liking you, than you are about them knowing God?